Various milking devices, systems, and methods have been developed that include a teat cup connected to a milking machine. Typically, the teat cup has a flexible inner lining and an inflexible outer shell. The inner lining or liner is commonly called an inflation. The teat cup operates to create a milking action by alternately reducing and increasing the pressure between the liner and the shell (a.k.a. “outside the liner”) while a constant reduced pressure is maintained between the liner and the teat (a.k.a. “inside the liner”). The alternating pressure between the liner and the shell can be adjusted using a vacuum producing source.
Cleaning, disinfecting, and/or protecting the animal teats is an important part of the milking process. The use of disinfectant and/or skin conditioner can prevent the teat from becoming infected or dry, or “affected by environment, (i.e. dry, chapped, frost-bitten, etc.)” In some situations, after the milking system vacuum applied to the teat inside the liner is shut off, the teat cup can rapidly fall from the teat. The vacuum suction is lost, and the cling of the liner surrounding the teat surface is broken. In other situations, where teats are long, large, and/or filled with residual milk yield, the milking teat cup clings to the teat for a period of time until forcibly removed manually or by mechanical removal devices. A teat cup application system should deliver skin conditioner/skin disinfectant properly in all situations.
During the closing seconds of milking action, prior to the determination of end-of-milk flow and milking vacuum shut off, the teats with little or no residual milk yield become internally exposed to milking system vacuum through the opening of the teat orifice caused by the pneumatic/mechanical action of milking pulsation. The exposure of the internal teat cistern to milking vacuum through the teat orifice and streak canal can result in cisternal pressure levels below atmospheric, or in other words, partially vacuumized. After the milking vacuum is shut off, the inside liner cavity beneath the teat end returns to atmospheric pressure. The resulting pressure differential between the external end of the streak canal at the teat orifice and the internal end of the streak canal's opening into the teat cistern can actively draw liquid, micro-organisms, and microscopic debris into or through the streak canal towards the teat cistern, where it can infect or irritate the streak canal or its opening into the teat cistern. A milking and disinfectant/conditioner application system should avoid interacting with the teat during this momentary peak pressure differential so that the applied skin conditioner/skin disinfectant is not pulled into/through the streak canal aggressively.
It is considered important in conventional systems where skin conditioner and/or skin disinfectant is applied manually using a cup-dipping (submersion) application that it be applied within seconds of removal of the milking teat cup. The primary reason is that the teat orifice remains stretched and distended as a result of the pneumatic/mechanical action of milking. The application of fluid has better access to the convoluted tissue opening for germicidal or conditioning activity prior to the teat tissue regaining normal circulation under atmospheric conditions and subsequent involution of the teat orifice and streak canal. Additionally, the teat cistern's deteriorating residual vacuum can assist a droplet in coating the distal surfaces of the streak canal for more effective germicidal or conditioning activity.
Using too much fluid during the application process can have a negative economic and environmental effect. Conversely, there is a negative economic and animal health influence created by using too little fluid or inconsistently or incorrectly applying it. It is conventionally accepted that the teat submersion application is the most effective and economic. There is a need to deliver the same results of skin coating and passive, atmospheric arrival of disinfectant or conditioner at the teat orifice, as with submersion, without the kinetic energy of directed forces at the teat orifice.
Converting the cleaning and/or disinfectant fluid or a substantial portion thereof into an aerosol, or converting its active sanitizing components or a portion thereof into a vapor through atomizing nozzles or other fractionation principles has negative environmental and human health effects.
The maintenance of the milking liner's shape in the teat cup assembly is dependent upon, among other things, the retaining structure of the shell component of the teat cup assembly. As the elastic liner fatigues through use, the opening of the liner or mouthpiece, which forms the final vacuum seal around the animal's teat, can become misshapen. Typically, this mouthpiece seal or lip becomes out-of-round or distended. While the milking industry's concern is with the physiologic interaction between liner and teat for milking performance, there is a need to address the maintenance of shape of the mouthpiece so that it's shape does not interfere with the delivery of disinfectant and/or conditioning fluid.
Thus, there is a need for an improved teat milking and disinfectant/conditioner application system and method. Further, there is a need to provide uniform amounts of disinfectant and/or conditioner to the teat. Yet further, there is a need to combine the milking and application functions into one apparatus without losing effectiveness and economy of the traditional fluid submersion technique.